July, 1914

 The next week or a little more we four girls did all the work and let Mama rest. The next day after I got home from Institute I wrote Mickel a letter to try to make him understand that I was not always the fool that he knew at Institute. Mon, June 29 he sent me a card from Holton, he was on his way home and said he would write me a letter later and he did July 1 and it sure was a great one. He told me not to worry about his opinion of me as he knew of no girl in whom he would feel freer to put his trust. That he was a freak with a hobby (the worst possible), that I was an unsophisticated little virgin with a great big heart (the best possible), etc. You can imagine the effect it had on me. The third of July I got a dandy letter from Miss Palmer. She went to Colorado. It sure helped me. I stayed all night with Mary that night and all day the next day. La Vera Wagoner was there visiting with Mary. When we got ready for bed, La Vera took a couple of flashlight pictures of us. The next morning we decorated the front porch suitable for a Fourth of July. Mildred Smith, Irene, Kelley and Esther R were all out for dinner and Jim Michaels came over from Scranton. I presume we had a lovely dinner, we always do there. In the afternoon we played croquet and took pictures. I rode home with Esther and Gertrude and the latter stayed all night with me, I think. The folks spent the day at Besse Pearl’s. I remember of having a nice visit with Lura about this time. I loved her very much. She told me that she didn’t live with her mother until she was five years old. I wonder if her mother and father were married. I think they were and I wonder what caused them to separate. Lura got some refinement somewhere and surely not from her mother (This was my thought at that time). When I wrote to Aunt Bessie thanking her for my present I told her about us kids doing the work and asked her if she didn’t want me to come out and keep house for her. She wrote back and wanted to know if I meant it and I assured her that I did. So she sent me five dollars to come out and I hastened to get ready. Before I left I wrote a short note to Mr. Mickel telling him my plans and giving him my address. Harold Allegre came out to see me one night before I left (the night of the day I talked to Lura). We discussed the probability of the girl’s legitimacy and he told me how much he thought of her, etc. Then, pretty soon Howard, Jean, and Earl Brown drove out and visited with us a while. Howard talked to me, the first time since we severed partnership. He seemed to like Lura pretty well and was afraid for he found out that Eugene Sellards was coming back to school here in the fall. I found that night that my love for Howard was certainly all gone. I liked him and I do yet. If he needed help that was in my power to give I know I would give it. But love him -- I do not. I feel sorry for him because he is not growing like Harold and even Jean.  Oh, I forgot to say that Mr. Mickel sent me a note July 8 saying he wished I was there to enjoy the fog timber moonlight with him. It was after I got that that I sent my note to him. 

Tuesday evening, July 14, I went up to Topeka on No. 16. Uncle Ed met me and took me over to their home. The next afternoon, Aunt Jennie and I went over to town and did some trading and in the evening we went over to the park to the Band Concert. It was sure great and thoroughly appreciated by me -- my mind was in a receptive mood for music. 

[Here the pen and writing changes]

Before I go any further, I must say that Mr. Fred Crumb called me up before I left for the West and said that Jillian Avery got her certificate. You know I was second choice. If she didn’t pass, I could have No. 49. She has been trying for a certificate for about six years and this was the first time she passed. I saw her several times this winter and she certainly looked improved so I couldn’t help but be glad that she got the job. 

Well, July 16th at noon I started for Preston. I remember one girl that was on the train that was very proud of the fact that she wasn’t afraid to travel by herself, that she didn’t mind changing, or staying over in a little town she didn’t know all night, etc. Then there was a woman and a little girl that went to Hutchinson. She carried one of my suitcases when we had to change trains at Herrington. It was about 9:30 when I arrived in Preston and Uncle Walter met me. He looked quite sporty in his black and white checked cap and his white rubber soled shoes. They live just a couple of blocks from the depot east. Aunt Bessie dressed in a black silk Kimona and the kiddies Walter and little Margaret with their nightgowns on were sitting out in the yard. Aunt Bessie fixed some dandy sandwiches for me and some cake which I ate with great glee. Uncle Walter played and romped  with the kids a while and then he had to go back to the store (He owns more than half interest in the Drugstore.) and soon I went to bed. First though, I read a letter I had from Miss Starbeck that was there waiting for me. I had written before I left. The next day and the next I spent helping Aunt Bessie with the work. Of course I went uptown quite often, at least once a day and sometimes oftener (now this last and next applies to all the times I was there). Sometimes Walter would go with me and sometimes both of the kids. We would go to the drugstore and get something to drink and stay for a while. I saw Cora for the first time at the P.O. Cora Williams is Assistant Post Master Either Fri. or Sat. I got two letters -- one from Miss Palmer and one from Murray G. The latter was going to K.U. Summer Session. One Sun. afternoon before I went to Preston, I had quite a little talk with him. That reminds me, I saw Mabel once before I went and the same day (Sunday).

Mr Ferris introduced me to his niece, Allegra Thomas, that had come to visit them. I introduced her to Margaret H. as I knew I wasn’t going to be home and I guess the three had a good time while Miss Thomas was here. She could play the violin, so of course Margaret was suited. Well, one of these two days, Fri or Sat when I was in the drugstore, Harriet Williams and her father went past but stopped when they saw me and came in and talked to me a little while. I remembered her from when I was here six years previous. Then I met Sarah Williams (about eighteen years old) when she came to bring the milk to Aunt Bessie. She was (or is) Cora’s sister and they look very much alike -- nearly black hair and dark eyes, and very jolly. Not very particular about their dress, but nice girls. Sunday the 19th I went with Harriet to S.S. and stayed to church. Mrs. Fletcher taught “our” class and some of those in it were: Georgia F, Harriet, Sarah, Bonnie Huff, Zel F, Lee Wilsey, Alma Hughes, Myrtle Kutz, Alfred Rawlins, etc. Mrs. Fletcher “ran” the church and S.S. and nearly every one got terribly disgusted with her. Prof. Osborne led the singing, that is, when Mrs. Fletcher would let him. They had just remodeled their church and it looked awfully nice. It burned this winter and they have just finished a brick one (May ‘15). That afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Allen, Florene and Harriet came along in their car and took me riding. We went out to Florene’s uncle’s. We entertained ourselves by talking and climbing up the wind mill. Ha! I knew Florene when I was there before -- also Georgia Fletcher. It sure was fun riding through several inches of sand! I don’t remember whether I went to church that evening or not. The next evening Harriet and I took Walter to a circus that was in town. He had spent nearly the entire day over to the grounds watching the “enuphilant” and I presume learning a few new sweater words. He certainly was a genuine boy, nothing “sissy” about him. The circus wasn’t great but when Walter was here I noticed he still remembered some things that the clown said and did. 

Tuesday, the 21st -- I got a letter from Mickel. He said he failed in the exams in Osage Co.  and was going to Clay Co. soon to take them again, that he would visit with Florence (she lives at Stockton). He said there was no telling what would turn up and he thought I ought to be concerned. I was awfully glad to hear from him and sent back a letter right away so he would get it before he took his exams, wishing him the best of luck both with them and his Lady, and assured him that I was concerned in any thing that interested my friends. That morning, Uncle Walter, Little Walter and I drove to Pratt in the car. Uncle Walter is certainly a reckless driver! He speeded up to go over all the bumps and usually went about thirty miles an hour. We went to the Court House (a very pretty building) and talked to the County Superintendent concerning any school without a teacher, but evidently there were none. Then we went to a café for dinner, did some shopping for Aunt Bessie, and soon came home. 

I hadn’t been in Preston long when I got cards from Mama, Kelley, and Fred D. The last said he was going to B’game and the said in quotation marks, “I don’t know whether I’ll be back tonight or not.” Ha! I answered it but never heard from him again. I presume I wrote to a great many people, but I have no record of the ones I wrote, merely the ones I got. In July, about the 22nd, I got one from Barbara Shaw that was sent to B’game and one from Kelley. I usually answered my letters within a week. 

The first week and a half I went walking in the evening several times with Florene and Harriet. One evening in particular, I remember we went down to the latter’s home and I saw Sam Williams. I knew him when I was in Preston before. He is going to K.U. The older brother Charlie just got his degree that year (1913-1914). He now (May 1915) is Post Master in Preston and Sam is still going to K.U. There are nine children in that family. Other evenings, Aunt Bessie, the kids and I would sit out in the yard. The kids would lie on a quilt and fuss and finally go to sleep. Aunt B and I would talk, she, telling me about every one in town. The I would carry Walter and Aunt B would carry Margaret and we would put them to bed. 

Saturday evening, the 25th -- Little Walter and I went with Uncle on a call. I enjoyed it because I got to sit out in the car by myself for quite awhile, the first time I had been by myself for a long time. The next day they had a doin’s at the church. Don’t know just what it was. I went with Sarah in the morning and I remember the Editor sat on the other side of me and fanned me with his hat. He certainly was a disagreeable creature! Among other people, Aunt Bessie had told me about a certain young man in the town that was very handsome, smart and a good singer, but had no ambition. I had seen his married sister, Mrs. Goldie Hays. She played the piano at church. The young man’s name was, in fact, is yet -- Lawrence Sillin. Aunt Bessie had told me about their feeble-minded brother and I saw him for the first time this day. He is harmless, but an idiot. He knows enough to take care of himself and can work, but that is all. In the afternoon I had been somewhere with Sarah, perhaps down to her home, and had left her when I came up with Cora and the “older bunch”. She introduced them to me, There was Prof. Osborne, his sister Vera, Miss White, a teacher, and Lawrence and Edwin Sillin (the latter a cousin to the former). I think that evening was the time I went to church by myself and sat just inside the door and as soon as services were over, I made a bee-line for home. But I wasn’t swift enough. A young man, real tall, came up and said, “May I walk home with you?” and I said, “Why, I don’t know you!” and he said, “My name is Paul.” and I said, “I guess not.” I told Aunt Bessie about it and she said she supposed it was because Raleigh didn’t know any better. One night during this next week, I went with Cora and Sarah and Johnnie Hays to take the milk uptown and to take Sarah up to Schneider’s to stay all night with Pearl. Johnnie Hays is a boy about twenty-two, tall, not very good looking, who has gone with Georgia Fletcher for many years, but they did not go together last summer. (Suppose they wanted a rest, for they are together again, or were for the winter anyway!) Johnnie is Goldie’s husband’s brother. The father keeps a store of General Merchandise. Before I left Preston, the mother, Mrs Hays, and I got to be real good friends. She was a sober looking woman, but really full of fun. Loyal, Goldie’s husband, worked in the Bank. 

The last of July, I got letters from Emily Davis, Mary M. and Baby. Bernice and Baby went to Topeka and stayed about a week, the day I left there. The evening before I left Topeka, I called Mama up over the phone to tell her it would be O.K. for the kids to come up and I could hear plainer than I can when I talk to Mary M. through Scranton. Mary’s letter was all about Chautauqua at B’game. She went with Jean all summer (and is yet -- June 15). Mary writes very jolly, interesting letters!